BUG HUNTING SEASON! Kathy Schwengler, Education & Outreach Coordinator, Eagle Point-Blue Rapids Parks Council

Summer arrives this weekend and it is the season for insects! I confess that I love all things creepy crawly and I want to share my enthusiasm for bugs in this issue. It’s a fact that insects including bees, wasps, beetles, flies, and butterflies are incredibly important to life as we know it because they help pollinate over 85% of all known terrestrial plant species, including many of the plants that end up as food or health care products in your home. Raspberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes, peaches, almonds, beans, clover, carrots, pumpkins, melons, cabbage, citrus fruits, potatoes, almonds, canola and even coffee are all pollinated by insects.

Because they are so important, I find it sad that adults in particular often fear or hate insects and spiders and feel compelled to squish them, spray them, flush them, etc. I understand not liking mosquitoes and ticks, but how does this fear and loathing of all things creepy crawly evolve? Kids don’t seem to be afraid of bugs when they go out into the Parks with our staff. In this issue, we ask you to put your bug biases aside and find your inner child as we explore the amazing colours, shapes and adaptations of the tiny and intricate insect world beneath our feet.

Eagle Point Nature News Adventure Awaits…. www.epbrparkscouncil.org

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ACTIVITY I. MAKE YOUR OWN BUG POOTER!

I turned to the teeming small creatures that can be held between the thumb and forefinger: the little things that compose the foundation of our ecosystems, the little things, as I like to say, who run the world. - E.O. Wilson

Their fancy name is aspirator, but bug enthusiasts call them pooters. Pooters help scientists (and kids) catch small insects for closer examination without touching them. These simple instructions will have the kids exploring the

backyard, ditches, parks and forests in search of cool and weird bugs.

Materials

Clean small jar with tight fitting lid

Two plastic bendy straws

Small elastic band

Nylon stocking or tights

Drill with bit 1/8 larger diameter than your straws

Play dough or plasticine

Procedure

1. Drill two holes in the lid of the jar.

2. Trim 2 or 3 cm off one of your straws. Push both straws through the jar lid so that the bendy parts are on the outside and the short parts will be on the inside of the jar.

3. Secure your straws in place and plug any gaps between the straw and the jar lid’s hole with play dough or plasticine (optional).

4. Wrap a bit of nylon stocking or tight around the end of the short straw below the jar’s lid and secure it in place with your elastic band.

5. Screw the lid onto the jar.

6. Find a small insect, point the long straw at it and suck on the short straw that has the nylon attached. The nylon will keep you from sucking the insect up your straw.

7. The insect will get sucked into your jar so you can have a closer look with a magnifying glass or your naked eye.

8. Draw a picture of your insect or take a photo before you release it, so that you can try to identify it.

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Eagle Point Nature News Adventure Awaits…. www.epbrparkscouncil.org

II. INSECTS VS SPIDERS Insects and Arachnids are Invertebrates that belong to Phylum Arthropoda

INSECTS include Flies, Ants, Bees, Dragonflies, Beetles, Butterflies ARACHNIDS include Spiders, Mites, Scorpions, Ticks

BOTH HAVE:

✴ jointed appendages (like legs, which are divided in different segments)

✴ exoskeletons and segmented bodies

HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT?

✴ Spiders (and other arachnids) have 8 legs (though they have appendages which could look like legs, such as the pedipalps) while insects have 6.

✴ Spider bodies are divided into two parts - a cephalothorax (head and thorax fused together) and abdomen. ✴ Insect bodies are divided into three parts: head, thorax & abdomen. ✴ Spiders lack antennae and wings. ✴ All insects have antennae and most of them wings. ✴ Insects belong to Class Insecta, while spiders belong to Class Arachnida

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III. THE 100 BUG CHALLENGE Can you find 100 different insects and spiders this

summer? Try our 100 Bug Challenge with your family! Watch the video to find out different ways to discover bugs including how to set up a Light Sheet in the dark to catch

moths. Send us some of your photos to outreach@epbrparkscouncil to be featured on our Facebook

The 100 Bug Challenge

Eagle Point Nature News Adventure Awaits…. www.epbrparkscouncil.org

IV. CITIZEN SCIENCE & BUTTERFLIES

Campfire Muffins

There’s a great way for families to make a difference to butterfly conservation!

This new app can help you identify the butterflies and moths that you encounter and it provides users with a way to store photos and observations while sharing with others.

eButterfly is providing a new way for the butterfly community to report, organize and access information about butterflies in Central and North American and the Caribbean.

eButterfly provides rich data sources for basic information on butterfly abundance, distribution, and phenology at a variety of spatial and temporal scales across the region.

Visit www.e-butterfly.org for more information or to get started on your Citizen Science Project.

eButterfly

Photo by K.R. Schwengler, EPBRPC

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V. TRACK OF THE WEEK!

These tracks are made by an animal that likes to eat insects.

A. Wolverine

B. Skunk

C. Pine Marten

D. Lynx Last issue’s track was made by a Beaver

Photo by Terry Kem

Questions or Suggestions? Contact:

Eagle Point-Blue Rapids Parks Council

Sandra Bannard, Executive Director sandra@epbrparkscouncil.org

Kathy Schwengler, Education & Outreach Coordinator outreach@epbrparkscouncil.org

Visit our website: www.epbrparkscouncil.org

EPBR Parks Council on Facebook

EPBRParks on Instagram

Subscribe to Eagle Point Nature News

EPBR Parks Council on YouTube

Links & Learning BUGS & BUTTERFLIES LINKS

Crafts - How to Paint a Bug Rock

Music - Songs about Bugs, Insects, Spiders and Slugs

Movies - A Bug’s Life

Identification:

Insect Identification

Alberta Insects

Butterfly Identification

Insects at National Geographic Kids https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/insects/

Insect Hotels: A Refuge or a Fad? Good tips for building bug hotels the right way.

Catch Bugs at Night! - How to set up a light sheet to explore your local moth population.

Eagle Point-Blue Rapids Parks Council thanks our supporters for their continued support during this challenging time!

Our featured supporter of the week is ATCO.

Got photos of cool bugs? Email your photo to

outreach@epbrparkscouncil.org and we’ll post it on our Facebook page!

Eagle Point Nature News Adventure Awaits…. www.epbrparkscouncil.org

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bonus activity

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